Money for nothing? It’s a rich man’s world

The sight of those many outstretched hands might have made a great photo, but it saddened the hearts of many people who are already disillusioned about what the future has in store for the next generation.

You probably all know the photo I am referring to: the one with students falling for the ‘free cash’ publicity stunt dreamt up by FreeHour, a student social media platform, for the University of Malta’s Freshers’ Week. The location was at Campus Hub Malta, which is operated by a private company.

But before I keep writing about the reactions triggered by that photo, let us take a slight detour and delve into the concept of the Campus Hub itself. The actual idea is not a bad one, per se. According to its FB page, Campus Hub is “Malta’s only on campus student accommodation, built over a large piazza, housing various outlets with a multi-story car park beneath.”

The very user-friendly website is inviting and basically promotes a dorm lifestyle, very similar to universities abroad. The accommodation is probably intended mostly for foreign students, but if I were 18 again and just starting university, I would have probably jumped at the chance to live an independent life, avoid the need for a daily commute to attend my classes and enjoy the liberating experience of living with people my own age, rather than at home with my parents. As for how I would pay for the accommodation (prices range from €16.50 to €28 per night, with options to share a room), well holding down a job while studying never killed anyone.

Of course, this might still sound like an alien concept to many: why would you live in a dorm where you have to pay for everything, rather than live at home for free where your freshly washed laundry and meals are always waiting for you?

But then, we all know that the cushioned bubble of our local Uni students, where they are paid to study rather than racking up student loans which have to be repaid, makes them a very different species to their foreign counterparts. Except for Gozitans, they all still live at home, and probably have a car paid for by Mum and Dad. In fact, as anyone who has ever studied abroad will tell you, Maltese students often get a culture shock at how nonchalantly “leaving home at 18” is viewed in other countries.

It is taken for granted that once you start University you move out and live on campus and no one questions it. It is a rite of passage, and while parents understandably shed a tear as they struggle to come to grips with the empty nest syndrome while watching their teenage children pack their bags, for the 18-yearolds themselves it is a thrilling time of their life.

So, on paper, yes the Campus Hub was a commendable idea. Behind the whole endeavour we find the Vassallo Group, one of the titans of the construction industry, who were the sole bidders for this massive project back in 2015. The description on the group’s website of the island’s “first student village” is impressive:

“It features 6 blocks of student village, 800 beds in different types of accommodation, approximately 500 new car spaces across 4 levels of underground car park, a number of outlets and facilities situated around a plaza, with a tree lined boulevard linking the University of Malta to the plaza. The complex will also house the University’s language school. The wellbeing facilities at the complex will cover an area of around 1400 square metres and will include a lap pool, gym, study rooms and a multi faith hall. Offering students an on-campus experience will add significant value to the already highly ranked University.”

So far, so good (although the mention of ‘a number of outlets’ already indicated where all this was heading). But let’s go back to that much-talked about photo, showing a burst ballon showering students with €5 notes as they reached high into the air to grab as many as they could. One kid managed to grab €95, he is still at Sixth Form and simply showed up because he had heard about the event from friends… but, let’s not get bogged down by these minor details. Money for nothing…what’s not to like, right?

When the photo was published, the University was quick to disassociate itself from the publicity stunt. In a joint statement, both the University of Malta and University Students’  Council (KSU) said they were concerned by the event, which the University emphasised was not held on its grounds.  “The activity held this afternoon presented manifest safety issues and exposed UM students to potential physical harm.  This publicity stunt does not align with the values of both UM and KSU,” they said.

There are two things about this statement which baffled me: first of all, I don’t think the most problematic issue was that someone might have got hurt. And secondly, the use of the phrase “not held on it grounds”. This jarred with what was written in its April newsletter when the University had proudly announced the completion of the Hub, complete with a video:

“University Rector Prof Alfred J Vella was invited to the celebration of another milestone in the construction of the new student accommodation…  The Vassallo group tradition is to break a bottle of champagne when finishing a project and the Rector proceeded with this tradition.”

Why on earth would the Rector be invited to inaugurate the project with a bottle of champagne if the Campus Hub was not on University grounds? It is all very vague and puts into question whether the Hub is autonomous and can hold any type of event without the permission usually required for events on the (actual) campus.

In a report by James Debono in this paper in 2016, it was stated that the land where the Campus Hub has been built was bought by the University in 2013. According to Debono’s report, “asked how the university will benefit financially from the project, the university’s spokesperson replied that the emphyteutical deed and related agreements will result in a financial inflow, which is higher than that which would have resulted had the project been undertaken by the University of Malta itself.”

The Vassallo Group was meant to construct and operate the new student residential complex. However, the many shops/outlets which are planned for the village (16 in all) indicate that it is a thoroughly commercial venture, and that the business mindset is what prevails. I can understand the University wanting to distance itself from this stunt, and the probability is that they really had no idea that cash was going to be thrown at students as if they were on Oprah. But anything done at the Campus Hub, which by its very name links it to the University, reflects back on the institution itself, so the administration needs to have more control over what is happening, because it is they who have to ultimately face the backlash.

Responding to the criticism, the CEO of FreeHour, Zach Ciappara, explained that, “First of all, we simply did not anticipate that number of people. Especially since we had only announced it the evening before. I also want to clarify that no one was hurt, no alcohol was provided and the students who attended really did enjoy it. We’d like to point out that similar events with higher risk than our do happen on University grounds. Like those events, the intent is never to undermine students’ dignity or to put anyone at risk.”

Again, the reference to the risk of injury is hardly the biggest problem with that photo, and what it implied. Instead, the picture spoke volumes about everything that is wrong with this country today. The obsession with materialism above all else, and the fact that students were ready to demean themselves to such an extent that someone literally throwing money at them was all they needed to show up and “enjoy” themselves.

We have already conditioned students to expect stipends simply for showing up for their lectures, and it’s bad enough that the annual bus-cades are a cringe-fest of graduates boasting about how much money they will earn. Unlike so many countries where Uni students voice their concerns about real social issues, here the protests have always centred about someone daring to take away their parking spaces, or (God forbid) suggesting that stipends should be in the form of a grant, which needs to be paid back.

You reap what you sow, and what has been sown is not a pretty sight.